District Collector Prashant J. Patil on Saturday instructed medical officers to seal a private hospital allegedly “for overcharging a COVID-19 patient”.
Following a complaint by an aggrieved family, medical officials inspected Navya Multi-specialty Hospital at Bottuguda in the town and found that the management was billing patients even without conducting the COVID-19 tests.
Charged ₹50,000 a day
Reportedly, the complaint received was about a patient who was charged ₹6 lakh, at the rate ₹50,000 per day, for COVID-19 treatment.
District Medical and Health Officer A. Kondal Rao, who inspected the facility along with his deputies and officials from the police department, said the hospital was admitting patients with symptoms of cold and fever, and were charging high rates after labelling them coronavirus patients.
“The hospital is also not approved to provide COVID-19 treatment to patients,” another official part of the inspection said.
Five booked
Superintendent of Police A.V. Ranganath said five persons of the hospital management were booked for cheating and extortion, and all of them were remanded.
Medical officials said that the department will intensify raids and randomly inspect private hospitals in the district to check medical malpractice.
